Before the new year, the Chinese received a real cosmic gift from the universe. A meteorite fell on the territory of the state, which turned out to be the brightest in history. But they can't find it, which makes it difficult to study the object. Eyewitnesses not only saw the falling object, but also noticed a strange pink glow in the sky after what happened.
The lasting effectScientists appreciated the meteorite and even envied the Chinese astronomers, because they were so lucky! So far, there is no data on whether the object has been found or not, but after the incident, experts promised to do so as quickly as possible. In the meantime, skeptics, for lack of a photo of the meteorite itself, doubt whether it was there at all. But the cameras don't deceive the citizens, moreover the eyewitnesses filmed the fall from different points of Qinghai province. The phenomenon was accompanied by a very loud noise.
It all happened in the last days of December 2020 on a Chinese time morning. The videos instantly circulated on the Internet, and the incident attracted global attention. Seismologists in China recorded at the same time a jolt from the fall of a celestial body.
What is most surprising about this celestial body is that it lingered in the sky for a long time by astronomical standards. The glow lasted 29 seconds, something that happens very rarely. Russian scientists called the object very long and a "gorgeous superbolide." Most likely, as many researchers believe, this meteorite is a very large specimen. Its estimated radius is about 1 m, which means it weighs about 10 tons.
The lost meteorite
The fall was also peculiar - not of the vertical type, but at a gentle angle along the horizon. The trajectory by which it entered the atmosphere suggests that the object did not fall, but passed through dense atmospheric layers. And this can be clearly seen in the video made by eyewitnesses. After passing through the layers, flashes and combustion began. But the object did not explode or collapse, it continued its flight with a declining, gentle trajectory.
From this many astronomers conclude that it did not fall, but simply landed somewhere near the town of Yuyshu, with a population of 400,000 people. However, there have been no reports of such an event from there.
On the day of the fall, eyewitnesses filmed something else strange on their phones. A strange red glow appeared in the place where the meteorite had been seen before. Motorists who were driving along the Delingha Highway, Qinghai Province, managed to shoot it on camera. The pinkish-red balloon remained in the sky and was visible for long enough - 40 minutes.
After gathering all available information, skeptics have concluded that it was not a meteorite that fell to Earth, and that it did not even fall, but simply disappeared. How else can one explain the fact that it has still not been found. It's not a simple matter, but if you put together all the points from where the videos were posted on the Internet, you can determine the approximate location, and no one has done that yet.
Something similar happened with the Tunguska meteorite; everyone thought then that a giant meteorite fell, but no one saw it. It was only years later that we realized that the Tunguska meteorite simply flew very close to the Earth, where it left a trail of destruction.